I don’t want to focus too much on the result of the turn and the river, and instead want to focus on the play of making the call on the flop.  I raised pre-flop an appropriate amount I believe, and I continued with a bet size that was appropriate.  And when the SB villain moves in on me, I need to establish a range of what I’m ahead of, and what I’m behind.

First things first, I was behind either a flopped straight (either 9-T or 9-5) and I didn’t see the SB calling the preflop raise with either of those hands, so I ruled them out.  Then I was behind any flopped set, and I thought a little bit.  Does the small blind set mine with 66, 77, or 88.  I debated this a little, and thought that given how big my preflop raise was, it was unlikely that those hands were in the range to call pre-flop.  Virtually every other holding I had crushed (other than flopped two pair), and I just needed to fade either a straight draw or a flush draw with two cards to come.  With just a little more than 3k to call, I decided to gamble thinking that I was ahead.

It turned out that I was right, as villain turned over the 9c-9s for nothing but a pair, but he also had an open ended straight draw.  He’d get there on the river when the T hit, and I was left with a little over 20 BB’s in the tournament, which I later got into a spot 4-bet shoving with QQ and getting called by T-4os.  A 4 on the flop and a T on the turn sent me packing, and I got my keys and headed out to the parking lot just a few minutes into the 2nd level.  I called my wife and told her that I was heading home, and so ended my one big shot.

I don’t actually regret the play that I made.  I thought that I was ahead of my opponents range, and it turned out that I was right.  I thought that I actually had bigger edge than it turned out that I did, but I was basically a 60-40 favorite in that spot, and getting somewhere near 5 to 1 on a call.  If the cards were flipped up and I knew what my opponent had, I’m making that call…every time.  So I know that I played it correctly.

I have to take solace in that, and know that if I’m consistently putting myself in those positions, where I’m a favorite to win a majority of the time, that I’ll do well in this game.  Hopefully, I can continue to play a little more and put that to the test.

Thanks to everyone for your responses and your looks into how this hand was played.  I’m still curious to see how many people agreed with the way that I played this, and how many people think that I should have checked the flop, and bet big on the turn.  I understand that play as well, but I think that the way that I approached the hand was fine for the specific tournament given the structure and range on my opponent.  But lets hear from you.  Do you agree with the way the hand was played?

We have a flop, and villain check raises all in. What do you do?

I know that I said that I would get this up two days ago, but it seems like the only time that I’ve been home has been to sleep the last two days.  A somewhat unexpected turn of events.  So with that aside, we’ll get back to the hand in question.  If you missed part one of this discussion on how you should play aces in this spot, check out the full post here.

In summary, we’re on level one of the $340 Buy in NLHE tournament and UTG raises to 150 at blinds of 25/50.  Two players make the call when action folds to me in position with Ac-Ad.  The first question that I asked was, “do you raise or do you call.” I’ve ruled out folding because that’s just flat ridiculous.  But there are a number of people who believe in the concept of calling in this spot, and exercising pot control on the flop, turn, and river.  It’s a strategy often employed in the early stages of tournaments with the thought of “I just don’t want to go broke holding only a pair.”  Top players in deep stacked tournaments practice this technique a great deal, and in most instances when you start out with 15k-30k starting stacks, I understand the play.

However, this tournament began with 6k starting stacks, and has only 30 minute levels.  In fact, by the time that the flop actually hit the table, the blinds had risen, and it’s not like you have the luxury of letting the blinds pass you by for 2-3 hours while you wait for a premium hand.  I think that in this spot a raise is necessary to isolate some of your opponents, and if you can pick up 525 extra chips (the amount that is now in the pot from the raiser, the two callers, and the blinds) then that’s an excellent result.

I decide to raise and make it a big one.  I cut out a T-500 Chip, and 3 T-100 chips, and decide to add some color to the raise adding 3 T-25 chips, for a raise of 875 total.  With the button and both blinds still to act, I’m thinking that anyone that wants to play this hand with me is going to have to have a pretty big hand in order to stick around, and maybe one that will 4-bet me.  This is the first time that I have 3-bet in the tournament, and despite being fairly active through the tournament, I’ve only showed down once, and I had the goods.  So 875 seemed to be a good raise to get the desired result of either folds around, just one caller, or getting a player to move in with a hand that I have crushed.

Action goes to the button who folds, but the small blind thinks for a while before cutting out the chips to make a call.  The big blind insta-folds, and the initial raiser thinks before also making the call.  The other two pre-flop callers get out of the way and we go to the flop three-handed.  The dealer burns and turns over a flop of:

8c-7s-6c

I don’t hate this flop as I have to feel ahead of the range of both of my opponents.  Am I slightly worried that my opponents could have flopped a set?  A little, but really not that much.  I wouldn’t place either of the two villains that came along on a hand that would have stuck around to my raise on that small of a holding.  My range on the SB is probably JJ+, and my range on the UTG player includes the same range as well as AK.  So when the flop hits, my initial thought is “I hope that they check to me so that I can c-bet them off this hand and take the pot here, right now.  The pot is already 2,975 chips, and I’d be elated to win that much in this spot.

A couple more pieces of information.  After calling the pre-flop raise, the small blind has exactly 5,400 chips, and the UTG player has about 4k left.  Action starts with the small blind checking and the UTG player follows in turn with another check.  I get my wish and cut out a bet of 1,750, which I want to open up to discussion and see other players feel on this one as well, but we’ll get into that later.

The player in the SB tanks for about a minute and a half, and then check raises me all in.  The total on his shove was 5,400, so after the 1,750, it’s just 3,650 to call.  Action is now on the UTG player who is covered by both of us, and he debates his hand for about 30 seconds, before finally showing his cards to the guy next to him as he tosses them into the muck.  When that happens, action is back on me where I’m faced with making a call of 3,650 or letting it go.

So here’s the questions:

1) Are you making a continuation bet on the flop?  If no, why not?  If yes, what amount are you making it and why?  And do you agree or disagree with the 1,750 raise?

2) What is your range for the villain in the SB where a Check/Raise shove makes sense?  Are you thinking flush draw?  Flopped Set?  Straight?  Straight draw?  Air? Let’s hear what hand you think he actually has that he could call the 875 pre-flop, and then check raise all in on the 8c-7s-6c flop.

3) Are you calling the check/raise shove for 3,650 more.  If you make the call and win, you’ll be sitting on a stack of roughly 16K.  If you lose, you’ll be left with about 2,500 chips with blinds going to 50/100.  After the shove, there is now 10,125 in the pot, and 3,650 to call.  You math geeks can weigh in here as well.

How are you playing aces in this tournament?

There are few things in poker that make a poker player happier than looking down at a pair of cards that have the letter “A” on them.  Pocket Aces aren’t going to be folded by anyone pre-flop.  It just doesn’t make sense.  But how you play them before the flop can determine how a hand gets played after the flop, the turn, and on the river.

I want to take a look at a hand that I played at the Los Angeles Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino yesterday where I was dealt pocket aces, and get some feedback on the way that I played them.  I’m going to present two different scenarios in two different post for the same hand, and let everyone weigh in on the best way to approach the play.  Poker is a game that has a bunch of different opinions, and I’ll explain what my line of thinking was, and why I made the plays that I made, as well as the results which are far less important.  It should be how you play the hand that matters, not the end result.

I’ll set up the scenario by letting you know that I was playing in my very first ever LAPC event.  It was event #23, a $340 Buy in No Limit Hold’em Tournament with a $100,000 guarantee.  I didn’t recognize any player at my table, but by the end of the first level, I’d had a pretty good read on all of my opponents.  There were a few big pots that were played, but nothing that was really out of hand.  And it would be the very last hand of the first level that we’ll be dealing with.

The event begins with a 6,000 chip starting stack, and at the end of the first level, I’d been very active and very successful, chipping up to almost 9,000 in chips by not showing down a hand.  Basically I was able to do whatever I wanted at the table, and I think my table mates respected my image.

With the blinds at 25/50, the hand begins with the player under the gun opening to 150.  The opening amount was pretty standard at either 150 or 125.  So the open wasn’t out of the ordinary.   Two players made the call, and action then came to me in the cutoff seat where I looked at the Ace of clubs, and the Ace of diamonds.

My question to you….

With about 180 big blinds in my stack and holding AA versus an open and 2 callers, are you raising your bullets, or are you just going to flat call here?

Other things to consider are that the blind levels will be 30 minutes for the duration of the tournament, so action will move pretty quick.  But this IS just level one after all.

Lets see if you raise or call, and if you raise….how much are you raising to?

Harley is the newest addition to our family, and provided us with one heck of a week.

It’s been a rough week and a half since Christmas.  The day itself was nice, and it’s always fun to see the kids open their presents and such, but the gift that Santa gave our family of a new 3-month old Golden Retriever Puppy has me questioning my sanity.  Harley is a wonderful addition to the family.  He has an awesome temperament, and is a warm and friendly addition for all of us.  But having a puppy in the house is just tough.

It doesn’t make matters any easier by the fact that he was attacked by a Pit Bull just 3 days into having him.  Now we’re playing nurse as well. I’ve been itching to get this down, so that I can simply get it out of my system, but work and the duties of taking care of a new dog have just been in the way.  So here goes the story.

I’m at work when I get a call that Harley’s been taken to the emergency vet hospital because he was attacked by a Pit Bull.  Traci had him on a leash in our front yard, and was talking with Kelli (12) and Nikki (9) about what they wanted to do…did they want to go for a walk, or simply ride bikes, skateboards, etc.  It was about 5pm and the sun was just starting to set, and it was getting darker.  In the midst of this conversation on our front lawn, the Pit Bull just showed up and was on Harley instantly.  No notice, no provocation, just attack mode.  Nikki just flat bolted into the front of the house while Traci held onto the leash for dear life.  Kelli and Traci began screaming for help as the Pit Pull picked up our puppy several times and shook him violently.

The attack must have lasted several minutes, as the girls screams were heard by neighbors from all the way up the block, and they had time to get to the attack.  The dogs had wound around Traci’s wheelchair several times, all the while our puppy trying to escape unsuccessfully.  Finally a few of our neighbors were able to get the Pit Bull loose by tugging on his collar, and it was time to assess the damage and whether or not our dog was still alive.  The Pit Bull wandered back up the street and back to his home in our neighborhood, just a street over and about 4 houses down.

Our neighbor from across the street noticed a large amount of blood from Traci as well, and it was from a bite that she’d received on her foot and her leg.  The bites on her foot were small puncture wounds, but they paled in comparison to what had happened to Harley.  He suffered a bite to the face near his eye, and several bites to his legs.  But the worst one was on his underbelly, where he’d been torn open with an approximately 9-inch laceration.  Traci had Nikki sent next door to her grandparents house, while she loaded Harley into the van with Kelli to take him to the vet.

The first veterinary hospital that they went to was already closed, so they drove about 20 minutes to the 24 hour Veterinary Emergency Hospital and checked in Harley.  I met Traci and Kelli in the exam room just as the Vet came in and gave us the rundown of services that they needed to perform.  The estimate was for between $1,500 and $2,300, and we didn’t even have the 70% down payment required for a deposit.  With my dad’s help, we applied for a pet care credit, and got the work started.  While they began to put things into motion, I told Traci to take Kelli with her to Kaiser’s urgent care so that she could have her bite wound taken care of.  She would later tell me that the doc was basically a numbskull, having declared to have “never seen a bite wound in 12 years of practicing medicine” but was correct in that they placed her on preventative antibiotics.

After the girls left, I went into the back of the hospital to see Harley for the first time.  He was torn apart really bad.  There was an awful lot of blood on his underbelly, and he was wearing ann e-collar (ie: The Cone of Shame) so as not to get at the wound.  I approved the deposit and signed for it after saying goodbye to our new pup.  They were going to try and stitch him up and hope for a recovery.  The vet seemed pretty optimistic, but was concerned from the location of the wound for 1) possible internal damages that couldn’t be seen until we saw how he responded, and 2) That the wound was in an area of high motion, and would reopen without keeping the dog immobilized.  They would keep him overnight at a minimum.

I left and picked up Nikki from next door, and we had some McDonald’s for comfort food.  Then I got on the phone to file the official bite report as instructed from the vet.  I also chatted with one of our neighbors as I needed to get the address of where the dog belonged.  With that information, I contacted the Animal Control officer on duty to file the bite report.  After a while of telling the story, she said that we could come in and pick up the witness statements in the morning.  Traci got home a little after 10pm, and it wasn’t until late that we were finally able to get to bed.

The next morning we went in to meet with the Animal Control to complete the witness statements.  They informed us as we finished that the dog had a previous incident on his record, having knocked down the backyard fence and roamed the streets.  The incident was reported by the neighbors, but apparently led to nothing more than the dog getting out.  During that time, which was a little more than a month prior, the fence had been repaired, the dog neutered and licensed, and had his shots updated.  All of this was good news I suppose.  But they weren’t certain that they would be able to demand the dog, because if he was well contained, then the owner could elect to leave him contained at home.

Traci completed her witness statements and about 30 minutes or so after we left, a man drove up to our house and got out of his car.  He walked up to our front door using a cane for balance, as he walked very unevenly and labored.  When he knocked on our door, I invited him in to sit and got the story of how the dog got out.  The man was a tenant in the house the Pit Bull resided in, and was named Vegas.  He suffered from Multiple Sclerosis, which is why he walked with a cane, and so slowly and labored.  He was the one who’d let the dog out by accident, when there were door to door sales people in our neighborhood, and answered the door, Vegas just flew by him and out the door.  He couldn’t catch up to him, and Vegas just simply turned the corner, and found our family.   We chatted with him for about 30 minutes or so, and as he left we gave him a copy of the estimates from the Vet so that he could take it to the owner, as well as our contact information.  We said that we’d like to speak with the owner about the incident, and he said that he’d pass that along.

Harley came home later that afternoon, stitched up and low.  The process of nursing him back to health is still ongoing more than a week after the attack, and it’s tough, but worth it.

The owner of Vegas has still not attempted to contact us after having been given our information a week ago, so yesterday we sent a certified letter to him that let him know if we didn’t hear from him by the 15^th of January, that we’d take the matter to the courts.  I’d really rather not head that direction, but we’re not exactly going to knock on his door and have the dog go to town on us either.  So, we’ll wait till the 15^th and see what happens from there.

In the meantime, Harley is doing much better and starting to become much more of a puppy again.  He has been an overall very good patient, and had his fair share of return trips to the vet hospital to get larger sized e-collars as he’s become more flexible and getting to his wounds easier.  But overall we expect him to get his stitches taken out in the next couple of days, and we’re hopeful that he’ll make a full recovery.  The bite marks on Traci were really painful, but overall look to be healing, and should be gone soon as well.  Fortunately, the bite on her leg just damaged the dressing on her legs, and didn’t seem to cause any new wounds that would have set back the more than 3 years of work that the wound care clinic has placed into getting the wounds on her legs closed up.  There was some bruising, but aside from the puncture wounds on her foot and toes, she was ok.

The girls are still really struggling with this emotionally.  They’re fearful every time that they go outside, and it’s still something that resonates every moment of every day.  Kelli and Traci haven’t slept well since the attack, and I worry about them as it’s noticeable how much this is getting to them.   They’re jumpy when they go outside, and the sight of other dogs makes them extremely uneasy.  I know that time will make this slightly better, but I still worry about if they’ll really ever fully get over this.  It should be better once Harley’s made a full recovery, and we can put it all behind us.

We’re not certain at this moment what will become of Vegas.  For the time being, he’s been ordered to be confined at his house.  Given that it’s just one street behind us (and on the side of the street that borders our back yard), and four houses down, it’s not like that gives us very much assurance.  After having already broken the fence once, and gotten past the person who lives there and can’t chase him down, it’s disturbing to think that this could easily happen again if we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Animal Control informed us that there will be a hearing on the issue, but because of a new General Manager implementing a new system, that it could take as long as 8 months before a hearing is actually set into motion.  You can imagine our frustration upon hearing that.  It’s unlikely that the dog will be put down, as this is the first bite incident that they have on file, but it still doesn’t make us feel any easier about any of it.

So that’s where things are at for the moment.  Everyone seems to be ok physically, or at least getting better.  It was a jarring incident to say the least, but hopefully everyone will turn out to be ok in the end.  I want to thank all of our neighbors for helping my family while I was at work, and especially thank my Dad for helping us with the financial aspect of the vet bills.  Now, we just have to wait to see how this story ends.

What if all of these teams had a chance at the National Championship?

Every year, about this time I sit down and spend some time in creating a fantasy College Football playoff bracket.  I’m a huge opponent of the current BCS format, and I’d love to see the NCAA get their act together and finally put together an adequate playoff system to determine a College Football National Champion.  I’m also a realist, and realize that the universities make far too much money from the currently flawed bowl system to even consider deviating from it, but it sure would be nice for us fans to watch a playoff. Instead, year after year, we’re left with nothing but passion and conjecture on who the nations best college football team REALLY is, and often debating whether or not the two most deserving teams ended up playing in the national championship game.

When the BCS first came out, I remember creating a playoff tree just for fun.  As the years went on, I simply refined it to play out fantasy matchups in what presented some outstanding games to determine a national champion.  I’m not certain why I’ve never written this down on PablosPlace before, but this year I thought it would be fun to just write it down for everyone.  The way that I determined my playoff bracket was very simple.  First, there are going to be 16 teams in my playoff system.  And I hope that this happens someday.  Here’s how you get in:

1)      Win your conference.  There are 11 FBS Conferences in the NCAA (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big 10, Conference USA, Mid American, Mountain West, Pac 12, SEC, WAC, and Sun Belt).  The winner of each conference gets in. Period.  I like this from the standpoint that it makes the regular season count for something.  Ideally, there would be a conference championship for each conference, but there simply aren’t enough teams in certain conferences for that.  But I think that winning your conference should count for something, and representing your conference in the College Football Playoffs, should be the ultimate reward.

2)      5 at-large bids will be granted per the BCS ratings formula.  This will give the opportunity for some of the more incredible teams to compete that simply couldn’t win their conference championship.  Sometimes, the best two schools in the nation come from the same conference.  I’d like to see them compete for a chance to win it all.  Also, an opportunity will be created for the 4 Independent Schools (Notre Dame, BYU, Army, and Navy) and give them a chance to compete for a National Championship in the event that they actually have a decent enough team to do so.  Back in the days when Notre Dame was relevant, this would have mattered.  But the fact that they refuse to join a conference, that should hurt them in National Championship contention.  And no…I’m not putting in any special provision that allows for the Irish to be mixed into the National Championship discussion.  Become relevant again.  No handouts.

So that’s the basic formula.  Win your conference and you’re in.  And then we take the next 5 schools based on which ones are the best rated teams in the country.  The ranking system for the 16-team playoff would be based on the BCS ratings as well, so there would be a lot of ease in putting the games together.  The only variable would be, where to play the games, and I think that neutral sites should be determined.   Here’s the 16 teams that would have qualified for my system:

ACC Champion – Clemson (10-3 Overall Record, BCS #19)

Big 12 Champion – Oklahoma St. (11-1, BCS #3)

Big East Champion – West Virginia (9-3, BCS #23)

Big Ten Champion – Wisconsin (11-2, BCS #10)

Conference USA Champion – Southern Mississippi (11-2, BCS #22)

Mid American Champion – Northern Illinois (10-3, BCS #36)

Mountain West Champion – Texas Christian University (10-2, BCS #18)

PAC 12 Champion – Oregon (11-2, BCS #5)

SEC Champion – Louisiana State University (13-0, BCS #1)

Sun Belt Champion – Arkansas St. (10-2, BCS #34)

WAC Champion – Louisiana Tech (8-4, BCS #38)

At Large #1 – Alabama (11-1, BCS #2)

At Large #2 – Stanford (11-1, BCS #4)

At Large #3 – Arkansas (10-2, BCS #6)

At Large #4 – Boise St. (11-1, BCS #7)

At Large #5 – Kansas State (10-2, BCS #8)

So under this system, imagine this playoff scenario, and ask yourself…if you’re a college football fan, would you watch these games?

ROUND 1

(1)    LSU vs. (16) Louisiana Tech

LSU comes in as the top ranked team in the nation, and they draw an in-state matchup for the first round.  Louisiana Tech isn’t exactly a roll over opponent either.  After dropping 3 games in a row early in the season, and falling to 1-4 to start the year, the Bulldogs rebounded with 7 straight wins to close out the season, including a 44-0 romp of New Mexico St. in their regular season finale.  They earned the outright conference championship and earned a spot in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 26^th vs. TCU.  That is probably a better matchup for them than the undefeated Tigers, who would likely be more than 3 touchdown favorites in the first round matchup, a game that if played, would probably see LSU trample their opponent yet again.

(2)    Alabama vs. (15) Northern Illinois

Alabama would pit the nation’s top defense against the Huskies of Northern Illinois, which finished 8-1 in conference to gain a spot in the championship game.  After falling down 20-0 at halftime to Ohio, Northern Illinois rebounded in the second half to win the Mid American Conference Championship with a 23-20 win.  With two close losses at Central Michigan (41-48) and at Kansas (42-45), and a blowout loss at home to Wisconsin (7-49), it’s hard to imagine that Northern Illinois would be able to hang with the Crimson Tide.  Alabama may have finished second in their division in the SEC, but their only loss was to the nations top team in LSU, and they needed overtime to do it.  Bama should roll in this game.

(3)    Oklahoma St. vs. (14) Arkansas St.

The Cowboys of Oklahoma St. seem to have the biggest beef with the BCS, getting snubbed for the National Championship game and an opportunity to play LSU for all the marbles.  Their only loss was a killer, a late season overtime loss to Iowa St.  But they rebounded to destroy Oklahoma in the final game of the season 44-10.  Arkansas St. meanwhile ran the table in the Sun Belt conference going 8-0 en route to earning a bid in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.  After opening the season with a loss to Illinois, and then dropping a game to Virginia Tech, it’s hard to see the Red Wolves hanging with OK State in this matchup.

(4)    Stanford vs. (13) West Virginia

West Virginia won the Big East, and claimed a BCS Bowl despite ending the season in a 3-way tie with Cincinnati and Louisville (everyone was 5-2 in the conference).  But by virtue of having the highest BCS ranking, they got the nod.  Stanford had one hiccup in an otherwise very good year.  They were flat at home vs. Oregon, and were bulldozed but otherwise controlled virtually every other team that they played.  Andrew Luck would have a field day vs. the Mountaineers defense, and the Cardinal would roll in this one.

(5)    Oregon vs. (12) Southern Mississippi

Southern Mississippi trounced undefeated Houston in the Conference USA championship, surprising most everyone and wrecking the BCS hopes of Case Keenun and company.  Oregon defeated UCLA in the first every PAC 12 Championship game.  Oregon would have their hands full with a pretty good rush defense in Southern Miss, but it’s hard to see the Golden Eagles containing the Ducks for an entire game.  Oregon should win this game handily.

(6)    Arkansas vs. (11) Clemson

Arkansas had two losses on the year, at LSU and at Alabama.  But the Razorbacks were perfect in every other game on the season, and would receive a tough draw in Clemson.  The Tigers dropped 3 of 4 at the end of the season (all road games), then trounced Virginia Tech in the ACC title game (the second time that they’d done so this season).  This game would be one of the more interesting matchups, but I think that I’d give the edge to Arkansas here.

(7)    Boise St. vs. (10) TCU

You can’t make a matchup like this up.  TCU and Boise St. played a thriller on November 12^th, with TCU getting the 36-35 win when a last second 39-yard field goal attempt by Boise St. missed wide right.  The rematch would pit the Mountain West’s two best teams against one another again, and this time, I’d give the edge to the Broncos.

(8)    Kansas St. vs. (9) Wisconsin

The Badgers lost two heartbreakers on last second plays this year, but played inspired football in defeating Michigan St. in the Big 10 Championship game.  Kansas St. lost in back to back weeks to Oklahoma St. and Oklahoma for their only two losses of the season, to finish runner up in the Big 12.  This would be an interesting matchup, but I think that Wisconsin running game would be a little too much for the Wildcats, and the Badgers would move on.

Quarter Finals

(1)    LSU vs. (9) Wisconsin

You have to love LSU in this one.  The Badgers excellent run offense vs. the LSU run defense.  I doubt that Wisconsin gets 100 yards in this one.  LSU, and it’s not close.

(2)    Alabama vs. (7) Boise St.

Boise St. may have pulled off a miracle against Oklahoma a few years ago, but this is a VERY different Boise St. team, and Alabama is most definitely NOT Oklahoma.  Alabama wins this one, and it’s pretty much a blowout.

(3)    Oklahoma St. vs. (6) Arkansas

This one should be a good one, and a game that I’d like to watch.  I’m going to give the edge to the Cowboy’s in this one though, more because I’d like to see them play Bama to get to the championship.

(4)    Stanford vs. (5) Oregon

Ummm…have we seen this one before?  I think it was either called November 12^th or 53-30.  Either way, I’ll take Oregon.

Final Four

(1)    LSU vs. (5) Oregon

Ummmmmm….Pete and Repeat are in a boat.  Pete falls out.  Who’s left?  LSU…that’s who.

(2)    Alabama vs. (3) Oklahoma St.

This one would be one to watch.  The Cowboy offense versus the Alabama defense.  The result?  Probably a 45-10 win by Bama.  They’re that much better.

Championship Game

(1)    LSU vs. (2) Alabama

Ok, so maybe the BCS does work?  Well, this year they got the two best teams in a game together.  But it would be more fun if THIS was the route that they took to get there.  Right?

My prediction on this one, I’ll take LSU and the over.

There is so much to be thankful for on a day like THIS day.

On a day where countless scores of people and their loved ones will sit down at a table and over-stuff themselves with Turkey and all the fixin’s, I finally found it in me a desire to write down some thoughts.  I miss writing a great deal from time to time, but I also suffer greatly from a lack of motivation to do it on most days, which lends to the reason that it’s been more than a month since my last blog entry.  But on today of all days, where we sit and recant the things that we’re thankful for, I had a few thoughts that I wanted to get down.

What  I’m thankful for the most, is the gift of today, and the joy that I find in it.  It seems like it’s the most simplistic of things to be thankful for, but in reality, it’s probably the most difficult to remain focused upon.  So many things happen in life that allow me to stray from my focus of this that it’s always nice to be refocused on the things that really matter.  And nothing is more important than the gift that we’ve been granted in today.

I believe that we as human beings suffer from a terrible disease.  It’s called, “the take-it-for-granted disease.”  We wake up in the morning, and we take that for granted.  Our bodies, have the ability to breath in oxygen, and our lungs the ability to process that so that we can have air to live off of, and we take it for granted.  We laugh, cry, eat, drink, love, and every emotion in between, and we’ll take that for granted.  Every simple thing that happens throughout the course of the day is often taken for granted as it comes as an expectation that it was simply going to happen.  I don’t want to take these things for granted.  Quite the opposite.  I want to relish in the gifts that they truly are and be joyful that I have the ability to get up in the morning, to walk around, and to embrace all of the joy that has been gifted to me on THIS day.  Because the reality is, all of the days that happened in the past, they’re gone now…and they will NEVER return.  While the days in the future, I’m not worried about because they just haven’t happened yet.  But THIS day, this amazing gift that I’ve been given of TODAY, I’m going to celebrate for all I’ve got and be as joyful as I possibly can, because THIS day, is the ONLY day that I’ve got.  And I’m tremendously grateful and thankful for that.

Finding the joy in today needs to be a simple thing despite how difficult it can be to focus upon, and it makes me appreciate those that I love and care for all the more.  I woke up this morning simply happy that I’m loved by so many people that have taken moments of their life to express their love in many different forms.  From my wife Traci, to all of our kids, to my family and my friends, I know that I’m loved, and I love as much as I’m capable in return.  And I’m extremely thankful that today, I have the ability to express that love to others.

I think that there are a lot of people who have a difficult time expressing the joy in there life, and it saddens me.  I think that there are a lot of people who simply don’t have an answer to one of the more simplistic, yet difficult questions that there is.  A question that really defines your character.  The question is simply “WHY do you get up in the morning?”  What’s the reason?

Now every person that I know, even most small children can answer the question of when they were born.  From the time that you enter this earth, you’re reminded of your birth date, and it’s something that you can celebrate those 3 numbers every year.  Nine-Five-Seventy Eight.  Those are mine.  Everyone knows there own.  It’s a simple answer to a simple question.  But when asked the question, WHY you were born gives most people pause.  WHEN is easy.  But most people really struggle when they’re asked WHY they were born.  I mean, an alarm clock can tell you WHEN to get up in the morning, but it won’t tell you WHY you should get up. There has to be a reason that you do, and it’s those reasons that I’m most thankful for.

I find that the reason that I get up in the morning is to seek out joy in whatever way that I can, in order to simply express my gratitude for the gift that I’ve been given in THIS day.  I remember when my kids were little and I would grab em, and just, well, pick them up and toss them into the air and catch them, and they would just giggle, and smile and beg for me to “Do it AGAIN dad!  Do it AGAIN!”  There was so much joy from the activity that they just didn’t want it to stop, and that’s the thing that I want for me and for those that I love.  I want the people I know to experience that kind of joy all the time.  I want people to be happy, and it starts with learning to appreciate the simple things in life, like not taking for granted the single greatest gift that we’ve been given.  This day.

I love bringing joy to my family.  As a parent, nothing….and I mean NOTHING makes me happier than to watch my children experience joy.  It becomes difficult sometimes to remember this as life finds a way to get mucked up.  Life has a lot of suffering, and pain, and sorrow.  And somehow, we have to find ways to pull ourselves through these realities that life is going to give us and still find the joy’s in our life.  When things are at there worst, that’s when we truly need to hold onto the most simplistic of things that we’re joyful for, and share that joy with others.  For in the midst of the greatest suffering, there is great joy still in the little things in life.

I’ve struggled mightily these past few weeks with finding my joy.  Since April, there has been less and less work related opportunity, and the financial situation between Traci and I has really become increasingly worrisome.  I’ve never been in a situation before where I’ve been stretched this thin financially.  But in the midst of our difficulties, I take great joy in all of the little things.  I choose to be thankful for the joy that I do have, the joy that this day is a tremendous gift.  An opportunity to spread joy with others, and remain thankful for all of the wonderful things that I do have, and the love that I share with others, and the love that I receive from those I am fortunate enough to know.

In previous years, we’d have family over to our house as we hosted the big dinner.  But this year, so many medicinal issues are in the way, as well as financial that we simply couldn’t afford to do the big dinner.  So as I sit down with an extended family this year, because our family is too elderly or too ill to make it to our dinner table, I’m going to remind myself of the joyful things that make answer the question of why I get up in the morning.  And I’ll remember them, and be thankful for them.

Congratulations to DeepStacks Live lead instructor Tristan Wade on his first career WSOP Bracelet win.

It’s been a while since I’ve played poker outside of the home game.  Since I took a 4th place finish at the $120 buy-in Venetian in Las Vegas during Brett’s bachelor party, I haven’t hit the tables at all.  Some of the reasons have been financial.  I just can’t really afford to go play poker these days.  But honestly, most of the reason has been a loss of excitement and desire, as I find myself losing the capability to connect to the game regularly.

I find myself having a more difficult time these days watching poker on television or even reading about it online.  I’ll tune in when people that I know are doing well in an event, like a friend of mine Tristan Wade, who just won his first WSOP Bracelet.  I first met Tristan at the World Series of Poker last year when he’d made a deep run in the Main Event. He was a standout character among the crowd of seemingly nameless poker players and I enjoyed my time with him.  He was readily accessible and eager to talk about hands that he’d mixed it up in, and had an overwhelming joy that exuded from his ear to ear grin about the reality of just getting to play poker.  He definitely wasn’t a fish out of water, quite the opposite.  Wade knew exactly what he was doing.  But he wore his emotions across his face in the Amazon Room, and you could just tell that he was enjoying every second of the opportunity to just be playing cards.

I met up with Tristan earlier this year in a small card room in Northern California for the DeepStacks Live training course, where Tristan is the lead instructor (you can read about my full trip report on that event here).  He was the first instructor that I had that day, and I was amazed by how much information that he gathered on every player at our 10 handed table after a short 30 minute observation period.  But when he sat down and actually taught poker to the students, it became apparent, this guy is on a different level than everyone else.  I was able to observe a little of that in his play at the series last year when he was at the table with highly regarded online pro poker player Cole “CTS” South.  And then I followed Tristan (probably more than he knows) online quite a bit to study his tight-aggressive style of play back when that sort of thing was allowed (side note here to offer a special thanks to the DOJ for protecting me from this type of behavior any longer – *sarcasm*).  It was obvious to me that he was going to have a big year at the series if he found the backing for it, and sure enough, he did, and he did.

Tristan final tabled a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Event, ultimately getting coolered a couple of times after being one of the chip leaders at the table.  I was glued to the live feed on WSOP.com for hours where there was no elimination, having people survive multiple all-in’s and calls, and the losing hand being the bigger stack for what seemed like forever.  Then Tristan finally ended up on the wrong end of a showdown on consecutive hands after the blinds rose to a level that really took all of the play away.  Nevertheless, it was a solid performance by an exceptional player that kick started a few other amazing results.

Tristan really showed off his skills as a player when he final tabled the most talent laden event of the WSOP this year, the $10k Six-Max Championship.  Wade earned the biggest payday of his poker career finishing in 4th place for $292k, after putting in several days work playing shorthanded against the very best of the best in the game today.  It was a remarkable feat and he was only survived

Tristan was all business at the final table in his first career appearance on the ESPN Main Stage during the $10k 6-Max Championship during this year's WSOP.

by players like Bertrand “Elky” Grosspellier, Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman, and eventual champ, Joe Ebanks.  The talent pool was the “who’s who” of online poker elite, and being physically present in the Amazon room to watch it all go down at the Rio this year was something that I’ll never forget.

But Cannes, France proved to be the time to add some jewelry to his mantle when Tristan finally ended a bracelet event with all of the chips, taking home a championship in the €3,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event.  His prize was actually less than his earning in the $10k Six Max event (he’d win the US equivalent of roughly $243k after the exchange rate), but Tristan’s name would be cemented in WSOP history as a bracelet winner.  And I couldn’t be happier for him.

Seeing stories from guys like Tristan find wins like this is what makes the game of poker so incredibly wonderful.  It’s always great when one of the good guys gets a win, and road win’s are even sweeter.  Wade’s win in France deserves all the accolades that can be thrown on the kid because if I know anything about Tristan, it’s that this bracelet is merely the first step of what will undoubtedly be an incredible run in the poker universe.

Rafe Furst and Phil Gordon will continue to have my support for everything that they've done in the fight against cancer.

Change can be a good thing sometimes.  It’s inevitable in life that as time goes on, things change.  After all, we’re not immortal, and we’re far from perfect.  As a result, things will be different.  Change can be tough, and it can be good.  But it’s an element of life that we must all cope with.

April 15th remains a landmark day for me in many ways because of the way that it changed my life.  Gone are the days that I spent playing online poker.  Gone is my online poker bankroll, seemingly tied up in what looks like a sea of mismanaged assets and misappropriated distributions among owners of a site that has fallen to pieces.  I can no longer play online the game that I’m passionate about, nor can I carve out the time or the bankroll to play the game live.  I’ve been forced to move on from poker, despite holding onto the love and the passion of the game.  Things have changed.

One of the other areas that has changed has been my involvement with charitable organizations such as The Bad Beat on Cancer.  I remember the day that Rafe Furst asked if I would like to join him and Phil Gordon, and several others on the Bad Beat on Cancer advisory council. The organization had been raising funds through poker for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and since 2003, had been directly responsible for more than $3.4 million in funds raised for cancer prevention and research.  That number is simply astonishing.

As a husband who has had to watch the effects of what cancer can do to a human, it was an honor to have received the invitation from Rafe to serve as a member of the BBoC advisory council, and I am happy to have hosted several charity functions and done my small part in donating to the cause.  Together along with the Twitter Poker Tour, we’ve raised a sizable sum of donations from a group that plays for a $5 buy in, and I couldn’t be prouder to be associated with the group.

So when I received word that both Rafe and Phil were stepping down from their positions on the Board of Directors last week, I was immediately filled with sadness.  Their goal and their vision have built Bad Beat on Cancer to what it is today, and the fact that they’ve raised more than $3.4 million at the helm of the organization for cancer research is commendable, and I applaud them.

It saddens me that the actions by the Department of Justice has stricken my ability as an american poker player from playing the game that I love.  It devastates me financially as the subsequent actions have eliminated my sources of income.  But it simply sickens me that the recent actions taken have forced Phil and Rafe to take this course of action, to the point where it was in the charity’s best interest for them to take a step away.  It’s not too much unlike a spot in a tournament where a player moves all-in, and you’re forced to let go of a hand that might actually be the best at the moment.  The risk associated with Rafe and Phil staying in their positions at the top is great, so I agree with the two men that it’s the right move for the organization as they don’t want to cast any undue fallout on the situation onto their hard work.  But despite the change at the the top of the organizational ladder, I will not forget them, and I will continue to support them as men, and what they have worked for.

It was with that in mind that I sent out my public statement on twitter a few days ago, saying:

“Deeply saddened by the resignations of @RafeFurst and@PhilNoLimits from #BBoC. Both men have my complete support, admiration, and empathy.”

The tweet received more than a few negative responses from some of the people hurt by the actions of the Department of Justice and Full Tilt Poker.  I understand people’s hurt feelings, as I too have lost more than I can count.  My life has been completely altered.  But as a human being that has had personal interactions with both Rafe and Phil, and feeling the pain that they must be feeling, my heart dropped into my stomach.

I don’t believe that Phil or Rafe were involved in anyway with the day to day activities of Full Tilt, nor do I believe that they were the responsible parties for the negative bank balance versus players bank balances.  While the company was more than $330 million upside down when they were shut down, I have a difficult time holding these two people accountable in anyway, and I certainly don’t think that the financial distributions that they received from the site over the course of their involvement with Full Tilt should be in any way characterized in the same way as a felon.  Quite the opposite.  I believe that these men were more victimized by the entire situation than all of us.  But that’s another story for another time.

I’ve reached out to both Rafe and Phil in the last couple of weeks and they’ve both been encouraging through it all.  Rafe thanked me for the wishes and checked in on my family, and how Traci was doing.  It was good to hear from him.  And Phil, well he provided me a word of thanks in addition to a hope that for the BBoC, this change could mean a good thing, and I hope that he’s right.   His words continue to ring inside me and called me to do something more.  Phil said “I’ll be back.  Just trying to protect what took ten years to build.  Now it’s time for others to step up, including you!”

It’s time for change.  It’s a time to leave behind the travesty of Full Tilt Poker, and move forward.  It’s time to build a new life and continue to fight for the things that are important to us, and the people that we love and care about.  It’s time to get involved in being a part of the solution, in whatever way that we can.

I’ll miss having Phil and Rafe at the helm.  But I believe that Phil is right…this is just temporary.  And while they’ll be missed a great deal, I’m excited to see other people fill in and hopefully gain experience that will make us all better in the long run, and look at this moment of change while remembering all of the good that they’ve done.

We all got screwed by the Full Ponzi Poker Scheme

I’m not sure what all the hours that I logged on Full Tilt Poker are worth anymore.  It appears as though the Department of Justice wishes that time that I spent, and the money that I deposited to be viewed upon in the same manner as a purchase of a PlayStation game.  I could spend countless hours clicking buttons, claiming that there was a skill element in my wins, and then walk away with nothing but time wasted.

The Department of Justice opened old wounds in poker players’ souls yesterday and then poured salt directly on them.  The most recent revision to the civil complaint originally filed on April 15^th now includes the names Howard Lederer, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, and Rafe Furst.  The last one bothers me the most.  The DOJ’s chief lapdog, US Attorney Preet Bharara went so far as to call the Full Tilt Poker concept a full fledged Ponzi Scheme, aimed at taking away customer money without the intent of giving it back, and instead distributing it among it’s chief board members and owners (of which there are purportedly 19). “Full Tilt was not a legitimate company, but a global Ponzi scheme.  Full Tilt insiders lined their own pockets with funds from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike about the safety and security of the money deposited,” said Bharara.  This giant mess got even messier, if that was even possible.

Let’s try and summarize the list of events:

April 15th, 2011 – The Southern District of New York unveils a lawsuit against the heads of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker/UB, and a great number of Payment Processors that were acting as 3^rd parties, taking money from American poker players, and transferring it to the site.  However, the payment processors weren’t actually taking payments for “poker.” Instead, they were labeling them for various other transactions in hopes of disguising them from the credit card companies so that the payments would actually process.  This prevented the credit card companies from flagging the transactions as “illegal gambling” and the payment processors would hold the money for a period of time before allegedly sending it onto the sites.

That day, all of the online poker rooms mentioned closed their doors to the US marketplace, and US Poker Players could no longer log onto the sites to play real money poker.  In essence, the DOJ suit ended online poker for US players, causing the poker community to dub the date in infamy as “Black Friday.”

End of April 2011 – PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker enter into agreements with the DOJ to temporarily regain their websites and access to their seized bank accounts to get their money to reimburse players their online poker bankrolls.  PokerStars gets this done in a few days.  Full Tilt Poker, well they didn’t do squat other than send a message that they were “fervently working on getting players their money back,” letting the public know that this was their “top priority” through a series of misguided press releases through Two Plus Two.  I’m not sure why they felt that this was the best avenue for communication, but the reality is, they didn’t have any real communication with the rest of the poker world at all.  Silence was their answer, and remained so for months.

June 29^th, 2011 – After months of not responding to the general public on anything, and months of not paying their licensing fees, the AGCC (the gaming commission that holds Full Tilt Poker’s gaming license to operate) suspended Full Tilt Poker from operating its functions across the world.  While their US games were already shut down, the rest of the world could still play to this point.  This took away the license of Full Tilt completely and things began to look bleaker by the second.  Full Tilt had been allegedly trying to sell their company, and the AGCC actions made it virtually impossible to sell a company that was so far upside down, and now had no clear cut ability to recover their losses.  After all, who’s going to pay $400 million for a company that’s $350 million upside down, and has no promise of income in the future?

September 19^th – The US Department of Justice names Lederer, Ferguson, and Furst as defendants in an amendment to the complaint, and seeks massive financial amounts from them directly based on payments received over the course of their involvement with Full Tilt Poker as an owner/shareholder.

Basically, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that for those of us that have money on Full Tilt Poker, that we’ll ever see it.  It’s pretty shocking actually as I never expected this, nor do I think that anyone that played the game of poker online ever really expected this either.  But it’s our new reality.  That money, that opportunity, and all of that hard work, vanished like it was possessions in a house of burning flames, that we’ll return to only when the fire department has finished dropping buckets of water on, only to rummage though the damage to see if there is anything left among the ashes.  In short, we all got screwed and lied to.

The new complaint lists some interesting tidbits of information, namely that on March 31^st, Full Tilt owed players worldwide more than $390 million.  That’s a rough figure based on the sum of all their player’s bankrolls on the site.  However, the site had less than $60 million in bank accounts across the globe.  For you math wizards, that’s a more than $330 million upside down difference.

To make matters even worse, the DOJ points out more than $443 million in payments to the company’s principles in ownership, specifically listing $41 million to Lederer, $25 Million to Ferguson, $11.7 million to Furst, and more to the other 16 big wigs that weren’t specifically named.  The numbers make things look bad…I mean, really bad.

Things that make Full Tilt look slightly better is that more than $130 million was never collected by Full Tilt due to the 3^rd party payment processors getting the hell out of Dodge once the DOJ filed suit on April 15^th.  No word yet on whether or not that money will ever be found again, but even if it is, Full Tilt is still more than $100 million upside down.

From a personal standpoint, I’m deeply saddened by all of this.  I feel completely and utterly betrayed as I’d laid a great deal of faith in Full Tilt Poker.  I feel utterly ashamed and humiliated to have ever promoted the site or to have encouraged others to participate in what appears to be a very poorly run business.

The saddest part is the now knowing that it didn’t have to be like this.  I don’t know that Full Tilt Poker really ever thought that this day would come or that this reality was even possible.  In my heart of hearts, I don’t really want to believe that the higher-ups from Full Tilt were intentionally screwing us the players out of money.  I think that it just got too big for them too fast, and they just mismanaged their way out of keeping themselves financially solvent.  They spent their money egregiously and they got caught with their pants down at the exact wrong moment.  I think that their greed got the best of them, and that they really did this without expectation.

But I also don’t know how things would’ve been much different had the DOJ not stepped in either.  It would have likely just continued this spiral of gobs of money being spread around the owners pockets and still not covering their balances.  I mean, they DID have $60 million in the bank, which was more than enough to cover the people that were ACTUALLY withdrawing.  And there was no way to really predict a mass exodus from the site.

The trouble is, it DID happen.  And they clearly weren’t prepared for it.  Because when it all hit the fan, they had more than $400 million in payments gone to 19 individuals, whereas we as consumers are going to be the ones that get screwed.  All of us with balances on the site have waited more than 5 months without being granted access to our information on our money, and the latest news that they’re this far upside down doesn’t make me feel any better.

In fact, the naming specifically of Rafe Furst sickens me.  Rafe personally asked me to be a member of the Bad Beat on Cancer advisory council, and I still remember it happening and how filled with joy that I was that I could be taking a proactive step towards the fight against cancer.  The fact that he was possibly in on the whole thing just sickens me to no end.  I’m just completely shocked about the whole thing.  I don’t believe Rafe to be a bad guy, but this doesn’t make me feel all that great either.  It makes me feel even worse to hear that he’s moved to Mexico in the last month as well.  I’m a wreck about this, and like most players and supporters of the game, just devastated.  This is probably a post in itself so I’ll get into this one later.

This story has a long way yet to go until it reaches its conclusion.  However, I don’t see players getting anything more than pennies on the dollar back for their deposits.  At this point, any more than 15% of players bankrolls refunded would be a blessing, and when the dust finally settles, that may be all that we get.  That’s about all that it’s worth any longer.  And it sickens me.

I’ll write a little more on this later.

Happy Birthday to me....it's been a great one.

There are moments in life where you just seem to appreciate the people around you more and more. It’s been an interesting month to say the least, filled with a lot of up’s and down’s.  But as I sit here and finally begin typing away on a blog that has seemed to go far too long without a post, I can’t help but think how lucky that I am to be loved as much as I am by so many people.

Today is my 33rd birthday.  I would have never dreamed that my life would be as it is today, or that I would be so lucky as I am.  First and foremost, I want to say a quick thanks to my wife Traci.  She worked her tail off to put together one heck of a week for me.  It kind of started on Thursday when I got home from work and decided to take the family to Disneyland for the evening. We got down to the park with about 2 hours left in their operating hours, and the kids decided that they were going to take full advantage of the 5-minute wait time on Big Thunder Mountain, riding the popular roller-coaster attraction 12 times consecutively.  It was a fun evening.

Then on Friday, I was surprised as I walked in the door after work by the kids and Traci to a candle-lit tray of brownies and the kids along with Traci singing “Happy Birthday.”  It was a great surprise.  A few moments later, the home game crew from PablosPlace joined for the regular Friday night fun.  It was a fantastic time, and Tim ended up taking top prize.

Saturday the fun didn’t stop as Traci and I dropped off the kids at various locations for the next couple of days, and we went down to California Adventure and Disneyland to enjoy a little date time for just the two of us.  We began at the bar over Ariel’s Grotto and I enjoyed some Lobster Nachos and Tri-Tip Sliders, and a couple of Amber Lagers.  From there we headed over to Disneyland and rode a few rides, stress-free, until finishing the night over at the Blue Bayou for some of the most incredible food I’ve ever tasted.  It was a magical evening.

Sunday was just as much fun as we headed down to see a taping of the TV Game Show “Let’s Make a Deal.”  The program is hosted by Wayne Brady, and was an incredible experience.  We had 13 of us go to the show, and one of us came home a winner (I can’t say who legally, because they said that they could take away the prize…but we may be going over to some more big games at Tim’s house over the next few years….just sayin

After the show we headed over to Stout Burgers and Beer for a late lunch, and then back to the house for some more poker.  It was a perfect way to spend the weekend with my friends.

I want to thank Traci and my kids, Tim, Amber and Chris, Andrew, Kaelia, Manny, Mike, Robert and Janeth, Amanda, and Mike, as well as all of my friends on Facebook and Twitter that have messaged me and continue to do so on my birthday.  It’s been a fantastic celebration and I feel both greatly humbled and thankful to have so many people extend such great love to me.  I’m a truly lucky man.